Red Snapper Livornese and Lamb Chops Scottadito

I started The Italian Chef website in 1999 and Red Snapper Livornese was one of the first recipes I posted. Occasionally, I like to revisit some of the older recipes from the archives, and since this wonderfully pungent dish from Livorno on the coast of Tuscany is the main course for my Christmas Eve fish dinner every year, this is the perfect time to bring it front and center. We spend Christmas Eve with my wife, Sandy’s family. They are Portuguese and their tradition is to have octopus, something I can’t eat due to allergies. So, my first Christmas Eve dinner at my mother in-laws, I made a platter of Snapper Livornese to serve alongside the octopus. It was a big hit, and is now expected of me and we have been enjoying this hybrid Portuguese/Italian Christmas Eve fish dinner ever since.
This dish could also be one component in a traditional Feast of The Seven Fishes blowout, if you want some more ideas to go along with it, please check out my cousin Sal’s Christmas Eve Dinner menu.

Red Snapper Livornese Recipe

Serves 4
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
12 gaetta olives, pitted and chopped
2 tablespoons capers

4 Red Snapper fillets         
1 cup marinara sauce
1 cup dry white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan large enough to hold the snapper fillets, over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the olives and capers and continue cooking until onion is translucent 3-5 minutes.
3. Lay the red snapper fillets skin side down in the pan, and add the marinara sauce and white wine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and place the pan in the oven.
4. Bake in the oven until fish is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully transfer fish to serving plates, spoon sauce over fish and serve.

Lamb Chops Scottadito

In Italian the word scottadito means burned fingers. This dish is named scottadito because the lamb chops are so delicious that you can’t resist eating them sizzling hot, straight from the grill and burning your fingers.
Serves 4

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil          
salt and pepper to taste
12 rib lamb chops

1. In a small bowl stir together the garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the lamb chops in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over them, turn the cops to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
   
2. Start a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill. Place the chops on the rack over high heat and grill turning once, 5 minutes per side for medium rare. The outside will be well seared with the insides still pink.
   
3. Transfer to a warm platter and serve immediately.
   

 

Lobster Ravioli Recipe and Roasted Rabbit with Sausage and Potatoes

• Dishes: Ravioli
• Ingredients: Egg, Garlic, Black Pepper, Salt, Butter, Flour, Lobster Meat, Egg White, Ricotta Cheese
• Meal Ideas: Holiday Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, Healthy Cooking
• Cooking Method: Boiling, Sauteing
• Courses: Main Course, Dinner, Lunch
• Cooking Styles: Make-Ahead Meals, Homemade
• Holidays: New Year, 4th Of July
• Seasons: All Seasons
• Occasions: Dinner Party, Wedding, Birthday Party

Ingredients

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 38 oz.(1064g.) cooked lobster meat
• 4 oz.(112g.) butter  
• 4 oz.(112g.) ricotta cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 egg whites
• Salt and pepper to taste 

How to make Lobster Ravioli directions

• 1 Melt butter in a large sauté pan. Add garlic to the pan and sauté for 1 minute. Add lobster to the pan and sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and let it cool for 30 minutes. Chop the lobster mixture into small chunks.
  
• 2 Combine the lobster mixture and ricotta cheese in a large bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
  
• 3 Place flour, 3 eggs, salt, and water in a mixing bowl and mix until all the ingredients are blended. Put the mixture on a countertop and knead until it is well mixed and the texture of the mixture is smooth. Separate pasta dough into 2 equal pieces and place one piece aside. Flour the first piece of dough enough to prevent the dough from sticking and roll it with a rolling pin into a 1/8th to 1 inch thick sheet. Repeat the process with the second piece, keeping it as close to the shape as the first.
  
• 4 Place the first piece of dough on the table and put on top 1/4 to 1 oz. mounds of stuffing 2 inches apart. Brush egg white around each bit of stuffing with a pastry brush, making the dough damp. Cover with the second piece of dough with the stuffing. Press the edges around each of the ravioli. Be careful not to squeeze any of the stuffing out of the ravioli. With a round ravioli cutter, cut each piece of ravioli. Place each on a surface that has been dusted with flour.
  
• 5 Place the ravioli into salted water that is boiling and cook them until they float to the surface.
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

  Roasted Rabbit with Sausage and Potatoes

   

  I thought about calling this rustic dish Coniglio alla Contadina, which would loosely be translated to Farmer’s Style Rabbit. Especially, because I used my own homemade sausage and home cured bacon, when I made it, as I imagine would be done on a farm in the Italian countryside.

  Rabbit is a lot more common on the menu in Italy than it is in America, because many people here don’t want to eat the cute little “Easter Bunny”. However, attitudes here are changing, more people are appreciating it and it is appearing on more menus. Of course, if you don’t want to do rabbit or can’t find it, this recipe works very well with chicken also.

  What are your feelings on rabbit? Do you eat it? Would you eat it? Please share in the comments.

  Roasted Rabbit with Sausage and Potatoes

  Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour and 15 min

  Serves 4

  

  1 pound yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
  1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
  3 cloves garlic, smashed
  8 ounces pancetta, diced
  4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  1/2 cup white wine
  1 3-4 pound rabbit cut into serving pieces
  1 pound italian sausage
  salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. In large bowl, toss together the potatoes, rosemary, thyme, garlic, pancetta and two tablespoons of the olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Transfer into a roasting pan, pour in the white wine and place in the oven. Cook the potatoes by themselves for 40 minutes.
  2. While the potatoes are cooking, season the rabbit with salt & pepper, and heat the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the rabbit, brown on all sides and transfer to a plate. When done browning the rabbit, do the same with the sausage, then cut the sausage into one inch pieces.
  3. After the potatoes have been cooking for 40 minutes, add the browned rabbit and sausage to the pan and cook for 20 more minutes, until potatoes are tender. Transfer to warm serving plates and serve.
  
  
  
  

Short Rib Ragu

A ragu is a slow cooked meat based sauce, and there as many variations as there are regions in Italy. I have posted a couple of versions of Ragu alla Bolognese in the past, but strangely enough I have never featured a Southern Italian ragu. This is especially perplexing, considering I am Sicilian, and grew up having this type of meal on Sundays. Ragus from the south are usually made by cooking large pieces of beef and/or pork in sauce for hours until tender. Then the sauce is spooned over pasta for the primo or first course in a meal, and the meat is served separately as the main course.You can put beef and pork ribs, sausage and even meatballs in, but I decide to keep mine simple and just make a nice beef short rib ragu, with some diced pancetta thrown in to add a little pork flavor.
Finally, while I said the meat is usually served as a separate course, you can also opt to pull it off the bone, shred it up and mix it back in with the sauce, if you are just looking to make pasta with a hearty sauce. Enjoy!

Short Rib Ragu Recipe

Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 3 hours | Total time: 3 hours and 15 min
Serves 4-6

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped fine
1 stalk celerey, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
4 ounces pancetta, diced
4 pounds beef short ribs, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 35-ounce cans imported Italian peeled tomatoes 
1 cup beef broth
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 leaves of basil, chopped
1 pound mezze rigatoni
freshly ground ricotta salata cheese for serving

1. In a large deep sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery, cook stirring occasionally until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the short ribs and pancetta and brown the ribs on all sides.
3. Crush the tomatoes with your hands, and add to the pot. Then add the beef broth, season with salt and pepper to taste, and let simmer, stirring occasionally for 2-1/2 hours. Add the chopped basil in for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
4. Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil, add the mezze rigatoni and cook until al dente. Toss the pasta with some of the sauce, sprinkle with grated ricotta salata cheese and serve as first course. Transfer the ribs from the sauce to a serving platter and serve as the second course.